ViacomCBS Expects Streaming Revenue of $7 Billion in 2024

ViacomCBS said that it expects to grow its streaming revenue to $7 billion by 2024, up from a current run rate of $3.6 billion.

Speaking at ViacomCBS’s combination earnings and streaming event  Wednesday, CFO Naveen Chopra said that would represent a compound annual growth rate of 30%. 

The revenue would be the result of a three-land streaming strategy of free with Pluto TV, pay with Paramount Plus, and premium with Showtime OTT and BET Plus.

He didn’t disclose the distribution plan or name distribution partners for Paramount Plus.

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ViacomCBS has nearly tripled its global subscriber base in the last two year and more than doubled its streaming subscription revenue, Chopra said.

The company is forecasting that it will have between 65 million and 75 million global streaming subscribers  by the end of 2024, up from 43.1 million at the end of 2020. “The vast majority of this growth will come from Paramount Plus, both domestically and internationally,” he said.

Paramount Plus will have a $4.99 ad supported basic tier and a $9.99 premium tier.

The ad-supported tier, launching in March, will start off with a select group of brand sponsors including General Motors and Expedia. They will have “unparalleled access to this audience and a unique opportunity to surround our content from all angels from video to custom creative to social,” Chopra said.

Chopra said he expected Pluto TV to grow to have between 100 million and 120 million monthly active users around the globe. A large share of them will be watching via connected TV, which means they’ll watch a lot and complete shows, making them attractive to advertisers.

ViacomCBS will be investing aggressively in terms of content to support its streaming plans.

The company currently spends about $15 billion on content across all of its businesses. It will increase spending for streaming content to increase to at least $5 billion by 2024, an increase of $4 billion from 2020. “That represents a combination of incremental spending and reallocation of linear content spend,” Chopra said.

“We may accelerate the pace of reallocation if we exceed our early goals for subscriber and revenue growth,” he said.

While not addressing profitability or a break even for the streaming business, Chopra said, “we expect the combination of advertising and subscription revenue to generate incremental value every time we attract a new Paramount Plus viewers, even if that viewers cuts the cord and switches entirely to streaming.”